1959 Carb Drying Out

[Cadillac Nut]

The carb on my '59 seems to be drying out.  If the car sits for more than a day or two, i have to put gas in the carb to get it started (and a fair amount too).  Once it's running it seems to be fine, but can be a little difficult to start occasionally.  But if it sits for more than a day or so....   Accelerator pump has been suggested also maybe base gasket bad?    The carb was rebuilt a little over a year ago, the fuel pump is rebuilt, the gas tank is new. 

[Lexi]

Garrett same thing happened to my '56. In my case if it sat overnight it was brutal to start the next day. Took tons of gas poured down the carb throat to start it, Used quick start sometimes it was so bad. Turns out that my new mechanical fuel pump was sucking in air at the strainer nut. Not sure if your '59 is the same, but in my case once I fixed that leak-problem solved. As it was on the suction side there was never a gas leak so there was no outward sign of a problem. Carb bowl was probably never filled and once running car got just enough gas to keep it going. Once it sat, what little gas was left in the bowl just evaporated out through the vent tubes. As the suction side leak was bad it actually impeded starting the car because crank starting did not apparently provide enough force to pull enough gas up to start the car. Once the car was running by priming it with gas down the throat of the carb, there was enough 'pull' of the pump to get the gas flowing enough to keep it running. A vacuum gauge check should reveal the state of your pump. In my case I was in the process of putting in an E-pump and while I used a by-pass line, just for kicks I ran it through the mechanical pump. That is when I saw the problem as gas leaked out all over the place around my strainer nut. Hope this helps. Clay/Lexi

[carguyblack]

On my 56 Cadillac we experienced the same thing as you. Adding to what already has been said, I'll state the obvious as it seems too simple: make certain all your hard lines (and also any rubber lines to the carb) are tightly screwed together and sealed up. Under pressure, I had no obvious dripping when running, but there was just enough of an open in the line causing me to loose prime. Tightening up the lines, it started first kick every time. I'd certainly try anything to avoid taking a good running carb off the car.

[Cadillac Nut]

Thanks guys.  I'll check all connections first just in case.   Do 56s have the fuel filter bowl attached to the pump?  My fuel filter bowl is in line between the carb and the fuel pump, on the valve cover.  It always stays full of gas, did yours?  How'd you hook up the vacuum gauge? 

[carguyblack]

Yes, My 56 has the fuel bowl like yours. I've installed mine with the glass down, which is often debated. These hard line connection are other spots to leak prime. In my case, the bowl still had gas visible (when mounted this way it is never full anyways) even when the line connections had a leak somewhere. I had to really horse them all tight to finally get the seal that held the gas in there between days of starting the engine. In the course of my doing all this, I did change out the fuel pump to make sure that was pumping enough pressure to rule that variable out. My post reply is just to say that my problem wasn't the carburetor, which would have been the natural thing to accuse first.